yodeling clubs roamed the streets. Back at the
Baren I found the doorway blocked by a brass
band from Lucerne. Herr Frei, in chef's
whites, stopped leading the music long enough
to pour me a glass of white wine. But before I
could taste it, a little old lady whirled me out
among the dancers who filled the street.
Rarely did I witness such unabashed rev
elry on the part of the shy, wholesome Swiss;
many even stayed up past midnight. Why, I
asked Herr Frei, did they have the Unspun
nenfest only once a decade?
"Surely you can guess," he answered. "It
takes us 10 years to recover."
Sedate by contrast is Bern, the orderly
federal city of the multicultural Swiss. It
dates from 1191, when Duke Berchtold V of
Zahringen built a wall across the narrow
head of land moated by a tight bend of the
Aare River. The city's influence grew steadily.
In 1353 it joined the Swiss Confederation,
and by the 1500's ruled much of present-day
western Switzerland.
Old and New Blend in Bern
As capital of the Canton of Bern and seat
of the Swiss federal government, burgeoning
Bern has leaped the banks of the Aare (pages
76-7). But the river has held the line against
the glass-and-concrete facades of offices, fac
tories, and apartments sprouting in the sub
urbs. The central Old Town still manages a
good bit of medieval charm. Despite the traffic
and trams, the motorbikes and miniskirts,
79